Tammy Beaumont insists Welsh Fire have ignited the fans’ imagination this summer – even though the rain ruined what might have been a glorious conclusion.

The Fire captain and her team were left disappointed as a downpour at The Oval meant their eliminator against Northern Superchargers on Saturday was abandoned.

It was a cruel way to deny Welsh Fire a chance to contend the final of the women’s Hundred.

Superchargers advanced to Sunday’s showpiece at Lord’s by virtue of finishing second to Southern Brave in the group stage – ahead of third-placed Welsh Fire – but it was Brave who won the final.

“I’m devastated, absolutely devastated for the girls,” Beaumont said.

“The game was going nicely towards what would have been a decent total and I would have backed the girls to defend anything.

“It would have been easier to take had we been absolutely thrashed or beaten in a close one and actually lost the game.

“To go on previous results and table finishes is tough. Everyone is absolutely devastated. But that is cricket. You can’t book the weather.

“It’s been a pretty poor summer on the weather front, hasn’t it? Sport is cruel, isn’t it?

“Rules are rules. At the end of the day, if we’d have won at Headingley on Tuesday and finished second we wouldn’t have been complaining.”

Fire were 104-2 from 75 balls when the players were taken off the field due to the threat of lightning, in a game that had already been reduced to 95 balls a side following earlier rain at The Kia Oval.

Superchargers needed to begin a 25-ball reply by 5.11pm but were unable to do so due to heavy rain, meaning Fire’s hopes of going from finishing bottom of the table in 2022 to winning the title a year later were dashed.

Superchargers had beaten Fire by 16 runs earlier in the week to leapfrog them in the table.

Beaumont was unsure about whether or not a reserve day for bad weather would have improved the tournament.

“They want The Hundred to be condensed and I think that is what sets it apart from any other competition,” she added.

“Just eight games and an Eliminator and final – that is what makes it good.

“You hear people saying the Big Bash is too long, the IPL being far too long, the games and the format. In terms of the women’s team, they’ve had the same overseas players throughout and that is what makes it good.

“With reserve days it would have to be another four days. It has just stitched us up this time.”

In the final, Brave had lost to Oval Invincibles in the previous two finals but this time made no mistake, beating Superchargers by 34 runs.